duck-shaped pain

2000-08-21
Where I Can't Read

Something that makes me sniffly and weepy whenever I hear it -- this is something which completely baffles me, and which, if further explored, might lead to me learning things about myself best left unknown -- is the phrase "Nebraska Public Radio."


People hate riding in cars with me on long distances, I've found over the years. Some express this hate in closed-lipped, smoltering disdain, and others have just yelled at me about it. It's not what you think -- I don't talk too loudly or smoke with the windows rolled up or smear feces all over the car -- I just tend to be extremely uncommunicative on long trips, completely tuning out whatever else is going on in the car and concentrating on what's passing by outside.

Part of this -- hell, no, a lot -- comes from the fact that I suffer from extreme motion sickness. Whenever I ride in the back or passenger seat of a car, it's only a matter or time until I get really dizzy or urpy or otherwise nauseous. This happens a lot on buses and trains, too (but never planes -- another mystery). I really hate getting sick in cars -- I can't read, I can't do much of anything of interest.

For a long time, I couldn't find anything that helped me be less in the car. Dramanine didn't work at all -- it only made me really sleepy. Finally, someone told me that ginger helps to keep you from getting nauseous. I've only taken it on a few trips so far, but I can report that the results have been positive -- on the drive back from Oregon, I did not get sick and I was even able to read for awhile.

Besides ginger, the two strategies I've developed to combat motion sickness are sleeping and spacing out. If I sleep, I don't get sick. But getting sick makes me sleepy, so it's hard to tell if I'm on the offensive or defensive mode whenever I sleep in the car. If I'm not sleeping, I'm off in my own little world. This is also something that works as both a remedy and effect of motion sickness -- not concetrating on anything keeps nausea at bay, but getting sick also makes my head hurt and spin. Whatever it is, it adds up to being more or less unreachable -- other people in the car can talk to me and I'll have no idea what's going on.

The other remedy, one which is guaranteed to work, but which, for practical reasons, only happens about half of the time, is for me to drive. I never get sick if I'm driving.

I've had people get very angry at me for doing all of the above. Some take it as extreme slacking off on my part -- they're doing all of this driving, yadda yadda yadda -- how come I can't keep them company? Some just tell me, come on, you can't be that sick. Whatever it is, it's not likely to help the situation, as I am then angry in addition to being nauseous and spacey, which just makes things worse.


I saw a big 18-wheeler truck yesterday which had the words "Please Drive Safely" written on it. In my nauseous, dizzy state, I thought it read, "Please Maintain Dignity," which I thought was a great thing to be warning other motorists about. Then, I saw what it really said and I was disappointed. Later, I passed a truck which belonged to a dumbwaiter repair service. I thought I was imagining that, but I wasn't. Dumbwaiter repair -- there can't be that many people around here who have dumbwaiters or enough to keep a full-time dumbwaiter repairman in business.

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